When you picture deadly threats, tooth pain likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. You probably imagine issues like heart attacks, cancer, horrible accidents, and so on. Even so, a sore pearly white is more dangerous than you’d think; ignoring a toothache can be fatal. You should thus make a quick trip to your dental provider if your teeth hurt a lot. For more details on these points, here’s a helpful summary from your emergency dentist in Nepean.
Remember, Toothaches Have Causes
While your pain might make you forget, note that toothaches don’t come out of nowhere. They result from a wide range of potential factors, some of which are very dangerous.
Among its most common causes, the most worrying trigger for a toothache is a tooth infection. The latter occurs when harmful bacteria reach your tooth’s pulp – an inner layer of nerves. As that happens, your mouth will send signals to your brain that are interpreted as pain. You’ll then suffer a severe ache that won’t stop until you get care or the tooth “dies.”
A Toothache’s Cause Could Kill You
Over time, a tooth infection won’t just cause you pain. It’ll spread throughout your body as it’s left untreated, potentially leading to life-threatening problems like:
Breathing & Respiratory Issues
In some cases, a tooth infection’s bacteria can reach your lungs. The microbes would then treat each lung as an ideal breeding ground, quickly multiplying throughout your respiratory system. This process often results in a much higher risk of deadly respiratory issues.
Meningitis
If you’re rather unlucky, your untreated tooth infection could trigger meningitis – a harsh swelling of the brain and spinal cord. This condition is very tricky to resolve safely, with up to 70% of its cases leading to death.
Sepsis
The worst thing a tooth infection could do is prompt your body to release certain chemicals, all in an effort to fight the harmful bacteria. The resulting “sepsis” would cause a chain reaction that ends in widespread inflammation, which typically ends with organ failure.
What an Emergency Dentist Does to Help
If you see an emergency dentist quickly, they can treat a painful tooth infection before it proves fatal. Methods they might use to do so include:
- Abscess Drainage – Some infected teeth develop dental abscesses, which dentists can drain of pus.
- Root Canal: A dentist can perform a root canal to remove your tooth’s infected pulp. This work would remove the harmful bacteria, as well as clean your tooth and give it a filling.
- Tooth Extraction: If your infected tooth simply can’t be saved, a dentist could extract it before its infection spreads. However, they’ll only adopt this method as a last resort.
Since ignoring a toothache can be fatal, take it seriously from the start. See your dentist as soon as possible for a diagnosis and treatment!
About the Practice
Fischer Dental is based in Nepean, ON. Led by Dr. Gus Bal and his team, our practice strives to do everything it can to make your smile healthy, beautiful, and long-lasting. We thus offer all sorts of cutting-edge oral services, from standard dental checkups to same-day dental emergency care. Whatever ails your grin, our team will help your teeth and gums truly thrive! For more details or to book a visit, please contact us on our website or by phone at (613)-727-0990.